“Lack of defensive power means a green light to the enemies,' said President Rouhani speaking at the ceremony of Defense Industry Day in the Iranian capital.
'We are all responsible to ensure, with the lowest price possible, security, power and dignity of the Iranian people,' Rouhani said.
Saying that the Iranians are 'the people of peace and cooperation”, He added, “Discipline, training, faith and readiness of the armed forces must be at a level that enemies would not dare to commit any act of aggression”.
“Marking Iran's Defense Industry Day in August every year is very important because everybody can witness achievements made by the researchers in the defense industry over a year,” added President Rouhani.
He also said, “History tells us that if we are not powerful and don’t follow our goals decisively, there are others that will defeat us.”
Saying that one cannot make sure that all human beings walk in the right path, Rouhani said, “In addition to being in a critical geographical region, the country has been subject to Iranophobia during the past 40 years”.
Rouhani said in the past 40 years, Iran has demonstrated that it is not seeking to exercise any act of aggression against any country.
“At critical junctures, Iran chose to help its neighboring countries instead of invading them. For example, we have hosted many Iraqi and Kuwaiti refugees during Saddam's invasion of Kuwait;
“The Iranians have always sought to have peaceful coexistence and interaction with other countries. In the recent years that terrorism had spread through the region, although it was not apparently a threat against Iran, we voluntarily rushed to help the people of the region and had an effective role in clearing the countries of the region of terrorists”.
President Rouhani emphasized that Iran must reinforce its defense powers to defend the country against those who look at this land’s resources and geographical position with greedy eyes.
“Our readiness is not readiness for war, but readiness for creating and protecting sustainable peace,” he said.
“When we say the Iranian people are ready to bravely defend the nation, it means that they want to protect sustainable peace. Lack of sufficient readiness and capability means being exposed to war, but increasing defense power means seeking peace,” he stressed.
Rouhani also said, “All we are trying to do and all we are spending on our country’s defense power are to prevent any war and costly acts of aggression imposed on our country.'
“Today, some countries in our vicinity are apparently trying to guarantee their security. They are doing this in a very costly way, they are buying weapons with the highest prices possible and yet they cannot use them efficiently. So to use them, they have to hire foreign military advisors,” he said.
